Rings of heat insulating material for use with floating head boxes in ingot casting

ABSTRACT

Insulating rings for use with floating head boxes in ingot casting are reinforced by a partial outer casing of sheet metal.

United States Patent Rauscin [4 1 Aug. 1., 1972 [54] RINGS OF HEATINSULATING [56] References Cited MATERIAL FOR USE WITH FLOATING UNITEDSTATES PATENTS HEAD BOXES IN INGOT CASTING 1,696,986 1/1929 Trembour..249/200 [72] Inventor: Paul Gilger Rausch, Cleveland, 2,263,43711/1941 'Cameron ..249/198 Ohio 2,274,580 2/1942 Bailey ..249/106X3,012,296 12/1961 Wiesner ..249/106 [73] if? Tradmg 4 3,437,308 4/1969Thiem et a1 ..249/201 [22] Filed: Feb. 3 1970 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 1,376,779 9/1964 France ..249/202 [21] 83% 881,365 11/1961Great Britain ..249/202 150,953 8/1955 Sweden ..249/106 [30] Fol-figApphcamn Pnomy Dam Primary Examiner--R. Spencer Annear Feb. 8, 1969Great Britain ..5,840/69 ArwmeyW9lfe, Hubbard, y g i & ann,

Ltd. 52] 11.5. CI ..249/202, 249/106 57 ABSTRACT 521;} Int. Cl. ..B22d7/10 Insulating rings for use with floating head boxes in Field ofSearch ..249/ 197-202, 106; e 164/53, 124,411,412

' ingot casting are reinforced by a partial outer casing of sheet metal.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures RINGS OF HEAT INSULATING MATERIAL FOR USEWITH FLOATING HEAD BOXES IN INGOT CASTING I This invention relates tothe production of metal ingots and more particularly to the constructionof an ingot mould assembly.

It is well known to provide an ingot mould with a hot top, generally inthe form of a heat insulating lining within the head of the mould or,alternatively, as a head box lined with slabs of heat insulatingmaterial. The purpose is to provide in the vicinity of the head metal ahindrance to the loss of heat from the head metal, thereby to delay itssolidification and so maintain a feed of molten metal to the body of theingot to compensate for the shrinkage which occurs on cooling andsolidification. In this way the tendency to the fonnation of fissures,cracks or the like in the cast ingot can be minimized.

A head box may be regarded as an upward extension of the ingot mould towhich it is applied. Any opentopped ingot mould may be provided with asuperimposed head box which may either rest or be fixed upon the top ofthe mould wall. However, in the case of a big end up ingot mould (i.e.,one which tapers outwardly towards the top), a floating head box isoften used. Such a head box is one which is inserted into the uppermouth of the mould and which, when the mould is filled with moltenmetal, tends to float on the surface of the cast ingot. A floating headbox generally consists of a metal casting, open at the top and bottom,lined with suitable hot-topping material and provided at the bottom witha refractory ring which protects the metal casting from direct contactwith molten metal in the ingot mould. The refractory ring is usually ofthe general shape of the ingot mould section and is made of a refractoryand/or heat insulating composition. A similar ring is used with fixedhead boxes.

In recent years there has come into use for such purposes (and for manyother purposes in the production of ingots and castings) aheat-insulating composition which comprises a particulate refractorymaterial, organic fiber, and a binding agent. Such compositions mayconsist for example of sand, paper pulp and a thermosetting resinbinding agent. The compositions may contain inorganic refractory fiber,e.g., asbestos or slag wool, instead of, or in addition to, the organicfiber.

Examples of such suitable compositions are described in British patentspecifications Nos. 888,857, 921,332, 960,474, 976,617, 977,191,1,117,977.

While slabs formed of such compositions are of adequate physicalstrength for most of the purposes for which they are required, the useof such materials for rings as aforesaid, though afiording the requiredheatinsulating properties, are often rather easily broken, because oftheir large overall dimensions compared with their small cross section.It is an object of the present invention to provide means for overcomingthis difficulty.

The invention is further illustrated in the'accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a ring assembly embodying theinvention, except only one part of the metal casing being shown for thesake of simp c y;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken essentially alonglines 2-2 of FIG. 1, except showing both parts of the metal casing andillustrating the spatial relationship between the metal casing and thebottom flange of the heat insulating ring of the present invention, and

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a ring assembly similar toFIG. 1, except showing the embodiment wherein the ring is formed of twosuperimposed sections.

According to the present invention there is provided a ring of aheat-insulating composition comprising particulate refractory material,organic fiber and binding agent, there being provided at the outerperiphery of the said ring a metal casing consisting of two ringshaped-plates having flanges thereon, the plates making contact with theupper and lower faces of the ring of heat-insulating composition and theflanges thereto extending over the said outer periphery to a distancegreater than half the thickness of the ring.

The flanged metal rings may conveniently be fixed in position by nailsor the like passing through the overlapping flanges and into thematerial of the heat-insulating ring.

In a modification of the invention a plurality of heatinsulating ringsections may be superimposed and the flanged metal rings used to holdthe assembly together, the flanges in that case extending to a distancegreater than half the total thickness of the peripheral parts of theassembled heat-insulating rings.

It is found that not only does the metal casing thus provided assist inpreventing fracture of the heat-insulating rings but it also has theadvantage that by presenting a metal surface to the molten metal ittends to chill the molten metal in its immediate vicinity, and thuscheck the tendency for molten metal to leak through the joint betweenthe mould wall and the heatinsulating ring into the gap between themould wall and the head box.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a heat-insulating ring withprotective casing, according to the present invention. In FIG. 1 thereis shown a heat-insulating ring 1 having associated with it a metal ring2 which has a downwardly projecting flange 3. Only one ring 2 is shown,forthe sake of simplicity. In FIG. 2 there is shown a section throughthe periphery of the heat-insulating ring 1 showing the location ofmetal ring 2 with flange 3 and metal ring 4 with flange 5. The flangesare secured to the ring 1 by nails 6.

In FIG. 3 an embodiment is shown wherein the heatinsulating ring 1 isformed of two superimposed ring sections 7 and 8 which are held togetherby the metal casing.

I claim as my invention:

1. A- ring of heat-insulating composition consisting essentially ofrefractory material, organic fiber and binding agent, said ringterminating in an outwardly depending, bottom flange having atop andbottom plane which are substantially parallel to each other and an outerface connecting the top and bottom planes and a metal casing consistingof a first annular plate positioned against the top plane with adownwardly projecting flange covering part of the outer face and asecond annular plate positioned against the bottom plane with anupwardly projecting flange covering part of the outer face andpositioned in an abutting relationship with the flange of the firstannular plate, the flanges of the annular plates being dimensioned tooverlap so as to completely encase the outer face of said bottom flange.

2. A ring according to claim 1 wherein the flanged annular plates arefixed in position by nails passing through the overlapping portion ofthe flanges and into the material of the heat-insulating ring.

3. A ring assembly comprising a plurality of superimposed heatinsulating ring sections made of a heat-insulating compositionconsisting essentially of particulate refractory material, organic fiberand binding agent, the assembled ring sections terminating in anoutwardly depending bottom flange having a top and bottom plane whichare substantially parallel to each other and an outer face connectingthe top and bottom planes and a metal casing consisting of a firstannular plate positioned against the top plane with a downwardlyprojecting flange covering part of the outer face and a second annularplate positioned against the bottom plane with an upwardly projectingflange covering part of the outer face and positioned in an abuttingrelationship with the flange of the first annular plate, the flanges ofthe annular plates being dimensioned to overlap so as to completelyencase the outer face of said bottom flange.

1. A ring of heat-insulating composition consisting essentially of refractory material, organic fiber and binding agent, said ring terminating in an outwardly depending, bottom flange having a top and bottom plane which are substantially parallel to each other and an outer face connecting the top and bottom planes and a metal casing consisting of a first annular plate positioned against the top plane with a downwardly projecting flange covering part of the outer face and a second annular plate positioned against the bottom plane with an upwardly projecting flange covering part of the outer face and positioned in an abutting relationship with the flange of the first annular plate, the flanges of the annular plates being dimensioned to overlap so as to completely encase the outer face of said bottom flange.
 2. A ring according to claim 1 wherein the flanged annular plates are fixed in position by nails passing through the overlapping portion of the flanges and into the material of the heat-insulating ring.
 3. A ring assembly comprising a plurality of superimposed heat insulating ring sections made of a heat-insulating composition consisting essentially of particulate refractory material, organic fiber and binding agent, the assembled ring sections terminating in an outwardly depending bottom flange having a top and bottom plane which are substantially parallel to Each other and an outer face connecting the top and bottom planes and a metal casing consisting of a first annular plate positioned against the top plane with a downwardly projecting flange covering part of the outer face and a second annular plate positioned against the bottom plane with an upwardly projecting flange covering part of the outer face and positioned in an abutting relationship with the flange of the first annular plate, the flanges of the annular plates being dimensioned to overlap so as to completely encase the outer face of said bottom flange. 